The invention relates generally to ground working equipment, such as agricultural equipment, and more specifically, to a soil monitoring system.
It is well known that to attain the best agricultural performance from a piece of land, a farmer must cultivate the soil, typically through a tilling operation. Common tilling operations include plowing, harrowing, and sub-soiling. Modern farmers perform these tilling operations by pulling a tilling implement behind a motorized tractor. Depending on the crop selection and the soil conditions, a farmer may need to perform several tilling operations at different times over a crop cycle to properly cultivate the land to suit the crop choice. In one type of tilling operation, rows of blades are pulled through soil to break up clods or lumps of soil, as well as old plant material to provide a more amenable soil structure for planting and to level the soil surface.
Other tilling operations are particularly directed toward breaking up subsoil compaction layers. As will be appreciated, soil may become compacted due to the weight of vehicles and/or implements moving across the surface of the field. For example, vehicle and/or implement wheels may compress layers of soil beneath the surface of the field, especially during periods of elevated soil moisture content. Unfortunately, the resulting subsoil compaction layer may block the vertical growth of crop roots through the layer. As a result, the roots may expand horizontally, thereby reducing access to moisture and soil nutrients located beneath the compaction layer, and/or decreasing the resilience of the crops to dry weather conditions. Consequently, a farmer may utilize a tillage implement to break up the compaction layer, thereby enhancing root development.
Before commencing tillage operations, a farmer may manually determine the depth of the compaction layer by taking measurements with a soil penetrometer. As will be appreciated, the depth of the compaction layer may vary throughout a field. To ensure that the compaction layer is effectively dispersed, the farmer may set the penetration depth of the rippers/subsoilers to a level below the maximum measured depth of the compaction layer. Unfortunately, operating the rippers/subsoilers at (or below) the maximum compaction layer depth may generate a large draft force on the tow vehicle. As a result, the tow vehicle may use a significant quantity of fuel to pull the implement through the field, thereby increasing the costs associated with tillage operations.